Coldplay new album release instant reaction review: Moon Music, songs, collaborations ...
Coldplay, Moon Music: live new album review
So, there we have it ... 44 minutes of Moon Music and my initial sensation that as a body of work this is very, very disjointed.
There are some fine songs on a first listen with Jupiter classic Coldplay and Good Feelings laden with summer-esque good vibes but the remainder of the new songs failed to create much on an initial impression and will certainly need repeated listening.
Tracks such as Moon Music, (Rainbow emoji) and One World are more on the experimental side and lacking much in terms of song structure.
Don't forget, this is all based on a first listen with some of the best music needing repeated listens.
But as an album, some great moments but overall an under-whelming overall feeling.
10) One World
And so we come to the final instalment on Moon Music.
Clocking in at 6:47, by far the longest track on the album.
Grand and sweeping epic track with 'one world, only one world' repeated on loop.
Feels like a closing credit-esque of a big Hollywood production.
Another track that ends only for a restart as Chris spends the restart in what sounds like a mono-style recording with a chant of 'la, la, la, la ..."
Interesting and curious way to wrap up the record.
9) All My Love
All my love starts with 'sunshine and snow' with more weather analogies from Martin on this piano laden big ballad style track.
A Beatles-esque vibe creeping into the track too at times.
Can this this being a big hit in a live context.
Not mad about it but can see this being a hit with the Coldplay fanbase.
8) Aeterna
Back to a big uplifting tune with a pumping house-esque groove.
'All together now' chorus lifts the track along and another song laden with a call for collectiveness.
Can see this getting plenty of remix treatment with it being an out and out dance track.
Another track that has a faux end.
7) IAAM
Many suggesting that this could be the third single with the track being used on the EA FC 25 soundtrack already.
'Let it rain, let it rain' is the main hook in keeping with the weather influences that seem deeply embedded in the tracks that compose Moon Music.
An average track here and can't see single potential.
Weakest track to date on Moon Music.
6) 🌈
An emoji titled track.
A recording from poet and activist Maya Angelou is used in this atmospheric track which build and shifts tone and pace halfway through.
The track seems to bookmark the album and is the second longest track clocking in at just over six minutes with the focus on 'rainbows' and 'clouds'.
5) Good Feelings
Nigerian singer-songwriter Araya Starr guests on Good Feelings.
Big, big disco vibes with the intro.
"We fell love in the Summer".
Chris keeping the love theme strong.
A track laden in positivity and immediately infectious.
Big candidate for single No.3 here!
A big Chic feel to this track and that is no bad thing !
4) Jupiter
Ok, so it's new music from here on in. 7 brand new songs.
Semi acoustic start to Jupiter.
"I love who I love" sings Martin with the theme of love being one of the album's common themes.
Yes, a thumbs up for this one... Like the way it fades out and in again!
3) We Pray
Single No. 2 from Moon Music and a track featuring an array of diverse artists such as Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and Tini.
We Pray, despite getting a release as a single over a month lags behind 'feelslike' considerably on Spotify with just 33,778,972 plays on Spotify.
2) FeelsLikeI'mFallingInLove
The familiar intro to the first single from the album is a stark contrast to the morose opener with a huge slice of positive power pop with all the Coldplay hallmarks.
The video for the single was shot in the Greek capital of Athens and rumored to have been on the expensive side.
Just the 109, 488, 422 plays for the track to date on Spotify.
1) Moon Music
The title track featuring John Hopkins.
The song begins with a big majestic orchestral sweep courtesy of the contemporary classical artist.
'Maybe I'm just crazy and should just be a brick in the wall'
A very intimate track ... concluding with “Is anyone out there, I’m close to the end".
Here we go folks... Fasten the seatbelts and get ready for Moon Music.
We're into the final countdown ahead of the Moon Music album with the title track up first clocking in at 4:36.
Guessing the third single ?
With We Pray and Feelslikei'mfallinginlove being the first two singles from Moon Music, am wondering if a first listen of the new album will throw up any obvious third single.
Coldplay on SNL next Saturday
Coldplay will be supplying the musical entertainment for the 5th October episode. Chris Martin and Co. first graced the SNL stage in episode 16 of Season 26 on 7 April 2001 when they performed Yellow and Don’t Panic, both cuts from their debut album Parachutes. They were asked back four years later and have made a total of seven appearances - the last of them, on 4 February 2023, when they were joined by Jacob Collier and the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers.
We're just 15 minutes away from Moon Music!!
A very crude calculation at the track times for all ten songs sees the album roughly clocking in at approximately 45 minutes.
Chris on the title track
Featuring contemporary classical artist John Hopkins, the opening track is meant to be a rather sombre affair and begins the 'day' on a low note.
'Yellow' in NYC
Chris and Ed Sheeran performed a version of the classic 'Yellow' last Saturday at the Global Citizen concert in NYC.
The duo also delivered a rendition of Sheeran's 'Shape of You'.
'Less is more'
The conversation between Chris Martin and Zane Lowe (Apple Music) recorded recently in Dublin where the frontman does confirm that Coldplay's 12th album will be the last.
Moon Music was produced by Max Martin, Oscar Holter, Bill Rahko, Daniel Green and Michael Ilbert and was partially recorded at the Punta Paloma studio in Tarifa, Spain.
Jon Hopkins, Burna Boy, Little Simz, Elyanna, Tini and Ayra Starr all make guest appearances on the record.
Big Moon Music plug on QVC
The iconic online shopping channel had the band as special guests performing and 'taking over' as part of the push for the new record.
Early reviews for Moon Music
Early reviews really seem to have divided opinion with the NME admirers of the record: "the album gently and subtly distils that spirit of weathering any storm, going on a journey from that bleak opening moment to a more accepting, happier ending."
With the UK based The Independent claiming: "the songs are lyrically underwritten, pretentiously packaged, and too often bookended by stretches of lilting, soporific ambience".
We have less than 50 minutes to wait ourselves before we can draw our own conclusions.
Moon Music: formats
The band’s tenth studio album will be released via a series of formats and in addition to the traditional digital release, a pink vinyl ecopack version will also be available along a special CD edition housed in a eco notebook packaging and the other in a standard ecopack. A LP/CD pack will also be released.
Limited edition signed versions of the album that were exclusively available via the band’s official website have already sold out!
Coldplay back on the road in a few weeks
The band resume their mammoth Music of the Spheres global tour in late October with the English band set to play a series of shows in Australia and New Zealand before heading to Asia in early 2025 with the global tour winding up with a record ten nights at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium in August/September 2025.
Billboard recently reported that the band’s current tour has grossed a total of over one billion dollars and sold 9.6 million tickets since its launch in March 2022, figures that make this tour the highest-grossing in rock history since the specialist portal started compiling data.
Chris Martin
End of the road nigh for Coldplay?
After Coldplay releases its 10th studio album, “Moon Music”, frontman Chris Martin claims that the band will only make two more albums before bringing the curtain down.
“We are only going to do 12 proper albums and that’s real. Yeah, I promise,” Martin said in a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “Because less is more and, for some of our critics, even less would be even more! It’s really important that we have that limit.”
Moon Music: tracklist
1. MOON MUSiC
2. Feelslikeimfallinginlove
3. WE PRAY ft Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI
4. JUPiTER
5. GOOD FEELiNGS ft Ayra Starr
6. 🌈
7. iAAM
8. AETERNA
9. ALL MY LOVE
10. ONE WORLD
Moon Music
The countdown to the new album release is well underway with just an hour to wait before we get to hear Coldplay's new music.
Hello and welcome to our live review of Coldplay's brand new album 'Moon Music'
Ten brand new tracks to look forward to from the English band with many suggesting this could even be the group's final studio work.